Multiple layer optical disc, and device for writing such disc

1. A medium access device comprising: a writer configured to write information in a logical storage space of a storage medium which has a physical storage space comprising two or more layers of physical storage locations, each storage location having a physical address, the logical storage space comprising storage locations within a first layer of said layers and within a subsequent layer of said layers, the storage locations in said logical storage space having contiguously numbered logical addresses; an address limit memory containing at least a value for a parameter indicating a maximum value of the logical addresses of the storage locations in the said first layer; and a processor configured to change the maximum value in said address limit memory and to provide an output when the maximum value cannot be changed to avoid attempting changing the maximum value.

2. The medium access device according to claim 1 , adapted to compare the logical address of the current block with the maximum value stored in the address limit memory while writing in said first layer and, if the result of this comparison shows that the maximum value has been reached for said first layer, to make a transition to the first available block in the subsequent layer.

3. The medium access device according to claim 1 , adapted to store the maximum value in the address limit memory and to write the maximum value to a predetermined storage location of said storage medium.

4. The medium access device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor receives a limit fix command from a host device that fixes a value for a last logical address in the first layer so that a transition from said first storage layer to a next storage layer corresponds to a video cell boundary and, in response, the processor derives the maximum value from said limit fix command and stores the derived maximum value in the address limit memory by one of division by 2 and subtracting a full size of the second subsequent layer.

5. The medium access device of claim 1 , wherein the processor changes the maximum value to a desired maximum value in response to a limit fix command from a host that determines the desired maximum value so that a transition from said first storage layer to a next storage layer corresponds to a video cell boundary, and wherein the processor provides the output to the host when the maximum value cannot be changed and in response to receipt of the output, the host avoids sending the limit fix command.

6. A medium access device comprising: a writer configured to write information in the logical storage space of a storage medium, having two or more layers of physical storage locations, each storage location having a physical address, the physical storage space comprising a logical storage space which contains storage locations within a first layer of said layers and within a subsequent layer of said layers, the storage locations in said logical storage space having contiguously numbered logical addresses; the storage medium having at least one predetermined storage location for containing a value for a parameter indicating a maximum value of the logical addresses of the storage locations in the said first layer; and a processor configured to read the maximum value from said predetermined storage location, to store the maximum value in an address limit memory of the medium access device, to change the maximum value so that a transition from said first layer to the subsequent layer corresponds to a video cell boundary, and to provide an output when the maximum value cannot be changed to avoid attempting changing the maximum value.

7. A host device capable of cooperating with the medium access device according to claim 1 , the host device comprising a host processor configured to send data to said medium access device, the data containing information to be written on said medium and/or containing instructions for said medium access device; the host processor being further configured to send a limit fix command to said medium access device for instructing said medium access device to store a host-determined value in the address limit memory.

8. The host device according to claim 7 , wherein the host processor is further configured to send a video signal to said medium access device, to evaluate the video signal to be written so as to determine where cell boundaries in the video signal are to be expected, to calculate a suitable value for said parameter such that a block for which it holds that a logical address is equal to the maximum value corresponds to a cell boundary, and to send a limit fix command to said medium access device for instructing said medium access device to store said calculated value into the address limit memory.

9. The medium access device of claim 6 , wherein the processor is further configured to read the maximum value from said predetermined storage location in response to connection of the storage medium to the medium access device.

10. A host device capable of cooperating with a medium access device capable of writing information in a logical storage space of a storage medium which has a physical storage space comprising two or more layers of physical storage locations, each storage location having a physical address, the logical storage space comprising storage locations within a first one of said layers and within a subsequent one of said layers, the storage locations in said logical storage space having contiguously numbered logical addresses; the medium access device having an address limit memory containing at least a value for a parameter indicating the maximum value of the logical addresses of the storage locations in the said first storage layer; the medium access device comprising means for changing the value in said address limit memory; the host device being adapted to send data to said medium access device, the data containing information to be written on said medium and/or containing instructions for said medium access device; the host device being adapted to send a limit fix command to said medium access device for instructing said medium access device to store a host-determined value in the address limit memory; wherein the host device is further adapted to send a Disc Read Command to said medium access device and to receive a Disc Read Response from said medium access device, indicating whether or not said parameter is changeable by indicating that said parameter has already been set to a certain host-determined value; the host device being further adapted to avoid sending the limit fix command in response to receiving a Disc Read Response from said medium access device indicating that said parameter cannot be changed.

11. A medium access device capable of cooperating with the host device according to claim 10 , the medium access device being adapted to receive a Disc Read Command from said host device and, in response, to read the value for said parameter from said predetermined storage location, and to send to the host device a Disc Read Response containing information from which said parameter can be derived.

12. A data storage system comprising: a writeable storage medium having a physical storage space comprising two or more layers of physical storage locations, each storage location having a physical address, the physical storage space comprising a logical storage space which contains storage locations within a first layer of said layers and within a subsequent layer of said layers, the storage locations in said logical storage space having contiguously numbered logical addresses; a medium access device configured to write information in a logical storage space of the writeable storage medium the medium access device having an address limit memory containing at least a value for a parameter indicating a maximum value of the logical addresses of the storage locations in the said first layer; the medium access device comprising means for changing the value in said address limit memory; and a host device configured to cooperate with said medium access device to determine a desired maximum value so that a transition from said first storage layer to a next storage layer corresponds to a video cell boundary and sending a command to the medium access device including one of the desired maximum value and a further value used for deriving the desired maximum value by the medium access device, wherein the medium access device provides the host device an indication when the maximum value cannot be changed and the in response to the indication, the host device avoids sending the limit fix command.

13. The data storage system according to claim 12 , wherein the storage medium has at least one predetermined storage location for containing the maximum value of the logical addresses of the storage locations in the said first storage layer, and wherein the medium access device is further configured to read the value for said parameter from said predetermined storage location and to store this value in its address limit memory.

14. The data storage system according to claim 12 , wherein said storage medium is an optical disc, and wherein said medium access device is a disc drive.

15. The data storage system according to claim 12 , wherein the medium access device is further configured to receive the command from said host device and, in response, to derive the desired maximum value from said limit fix command and to store the derived desired maximum value in its address limit memory.

16. A data storage system comprising: a writeable storage medium having a physical storage space comprising two or more layers of physical storage locations, each storage location having a physical address, the physical storage space comprising a logical storage space which contains storage locations within a first one of said layers and within a subsequent one of said layers, the storage locations in said logical storage space having contiguously numbered logical addresses; a medium access device capable of writing information in the logical storage space of the writeable storage medium which has the physical storage space comprising the two or more layers of physical storage locations, the medium access device having an address limit memory containing at least a value for a parameter indicating a maximum value of the logical addresses of the storage locations in the said first storage layer; the medium access device comprising means for changing the value in said address limit memory; and a host device capable of cooperating with said medium access device and being adapted to send data to said medium access device, the data containing information to be written on said medium and/or containing instructions for said medium access device; the host device being further adapted to send a limit fix command to said medium access device for instructing said medium access device to store a host-determined value in its address limit memory and a medium access device adapted to receive a limit fix command from said host device and, in response, to derive the maximum value from said limit fix command and to store the derived maximum value in its address limit memory; wherein said limit fix command is sent as a modified RESERVE TRACK command.

17. The data storage system according to claim 16 , wherein the value of bit 0 of byte 1 of the RESERVE TRACK command indicates that this command is to be interpreted as a limit fix command, and wherein the bytes 5to 8 of the RESERVE TRACK command contain the maximum value.

18. A data storage system comprising: a writeable storage medium having a physical storage space comprising two or more layers of physical storage locations, each storage location having a physical address, the physical storage space comprising a logical storage space which contains storage locations within a first one of said layers and within a subsequent one of said layers, the storage locations in said logical storage space having contiguously numbered logical addresses; a medium access device capable of writing information in the logical storage space of the writeable storage medium which has the physical storage space comprising the two or more layers of physical storage locations, the medium access device having an address limit memory containing at least a value for a parameter indicating a maximum value of the logical addresses of the storage locations in the said first storage layer; the medium access device comprising means for changing the value in said address limit memory; and a host device capable of cooperating with said medium access device and being adapted to send data to said medium access device, the data containing information to be written on said medium and/or containing instructions for said medium access device; the host device being further adapted to send a limit fix command to said medium access device for instructing said medium access device to store a host-determined value in its address limit memory and a medium access device adapted to receive a limit fix command from said host device and, in response, to derive the maximum value from said limit fix command and to store the derived maximum value in its address limit memory; wherein said limit fix command is sent as a modified WRITE PARAMETERS PAGE command.

19. The data storage system according to claim 18 , wherein the value of bit 6 of byte 0 of the WRITE PARAMETERS PAGE command indicates that this command is to be interpreted as a limit fix command, and wherein the bytes 32 to 47 of the WRITE PARAMETERS PAGE command contain the maximum value.

20. A data storage system comprising: a writeable storage medium having a physical storage space comprising two or more layers of physical storage locations, each storage location having a physical address, the physical storage space comprising a logical storage space which contains storage locations within a first one of said layers and within a subsequent one of said layers, the storage locations in said logical storage space having contiguously numbered logical addresses; a medium access device capable of writing information in the logical storage space of the writeable storage medium which has the physical storage space comprising two or more layers of physical storage locations, the medium access device having an address limit memory containing at least a value for a parameter indicating a maximum value of the logical addresses of the storage locations in the said first storage layer; the medium access device comprising means for changing the value in said address limit memory; and a host device capable of cooperating with said medium access device and being adapted to send data to said medium access device, the data containing information to be written on said medium and/or containing instructions for said medium access device; the host device being further adapted to send a limit fix command to said medium access device for instructing said medium access device to store a host-determined value in its address limit memory and a medium access device adapted to receive a limit fix command from said host device and, in response, to derive the maximum value from said limit fix command and to store the derived maximum value in its address limit memory; wherein said limit fix command is sent as a modified SEND DVD STRUCTURE command.

21. The data storage system according to claim 20 , wherein value 20h for byte 7 indicates that the SEND DVD STRUCTURE command contains 17 bytes, and that bytes 14-16 contain the maximum value.

22. A data storage system comprising: a writeable storage medium having a physical storage space comprising two or more layers of physical storage locations, each storage location having a physical address, the physical storage space comprising a logical storage space which contains storage locations within a first one of said layers and within a subsequent one of said layers, the storage locations in said logical storage space having contiguously numbered logical addresses; a medium access device capable of writing information in the logical storage space of the writeable storage medium which has the physical storage space comprising the two or more layers of physical storage locations, the medium access device having an address limit memory containing at least a value for a parameter indicating a maximum value of the logical addresses of the storage locations in the said first storage layer; the medium access device comprising means for changing the value in said address limit memory; and a host device capable of cooperating with said medium access device and being adapted to send a Disc Read Command to said medium access device and to receive a Disc Read Response from said medium access device, indicating whether or not said parameter is changeable by indicating that said parameter has already been set to a certain host-determined value; the host device being further adapted to avoid sending the limit fix command in response to receiving a Disc Read Response from said medium access device indicating that said parameter cannot be changed and a medium access device, the access device being designed adapted to receive a Disc Read Command from said host device and, in response, to read the value for said parameter from said predetermined storage location, and to send to the host device a Disc Read Response containing information from which said parameter can be derived.

23. The data storage system according to claim 22 , wherein said Disc Read Command is sent as a modified READ DVD STRUCTURE command.

24. The data storage system according to claim 23 , wherein value 20h for byte 7 indicates that the modified READ DVD STRUCTURE command is to be taken as a Disc Read Command.

25. The data storage system according to claim 22 , wherein said Disc Read Response is sent as modified Read DVD Structure Data.

26. The data storage system according to claim 25 , wherein bytes 2 4 of a “DVD Lead-in Structure” field are used to convey information indicating whether or not said parameter is changeable.

27. A system comprising: a disc drive configured to read from a storage medium a maximum value of logical addresses of the storage medium, and to store the maximum value in a memory of the disc drive, the storage medium having a first storage layer and a second storage layer; a host device configured to provide data organized in cells for writing the data on the storage medium and to evaluate video data and determine cell boundaries of the cells, the host device being further configured to determine a desired maximum value of the logical addresses so that a transition from the first storage layer to the second storage layer corresponds to a video cell boundary, and to provide command to the disc drive including one of the desired maximum value and a further value used for deriving the desired maximum value by the disc drive for changing the maximum value stored in a memory to the desired maximum value, wherein the disc drive changes the maximum value to the desired maximum value in response to the command, and wherein the disc drive provides the host device an indication when the maximum value cannot be changed and the in response to the indication, the host device avoids sending the command.

28. The system of claim 27 , wherein the disc drive further configured to store the desired maximum value on the storage medium.

29. The system of claim 27 , wherein the host device is further configured to determine a desired address value for a last logical address in the first storage layer so that a transition from the first storage layer to the second storage layer corresponds to a video cell boundary, and wherein the disc drive is further configured to determine the desired maximum value from the desired address value.